A peel-off-type pack is a film-forming cosmetic article, which is applied to skin, left for a certain period of time to form a film, and then peeled off the skin.
The peel-off-type pack typically supplies moisture itself and moisture-retaining ingredients to the stratum corneum of the skin, while absorbing sebum from the skin. The peel-off-type pack forms a film on the skin to give appropriate tension to the skin and improve the blood circulation. When the peel-off-type pack is peeled off the skin, the peel-off-type pack removes dirt and keratotic plug of the skin.
The peel-off-type pack accordingly exhibits high emollient effects and excellent cleaning effects.
Known peel-off-type packs are in jelly-like, paste-like, or powdery form. Among the known peel-off-type packs, jelly-like and paste-like packs are directly applied to the skin to form a film and then peeled off the skin. The powdery pack is previously mixed with a liquid such as water, applied to the skin to form a film, and then peeled off the skin.
In any of the conventional peel-off-type packs, the cosmetic substance which forms the pack is generally applied to the skin with fingers. This application process inevitably causes some amount of the cosmetic substance to remain on the fingers, thereby wasting the cosmetic substance and staining the fingers. Another problem is difficulty in uniformly applying the pack to the surface of the skin.
Moreover, a relatively long period of time is required to complete the formation of a film after the application of the pack to the skin. This makes the skin treatment with a pack rather troublesome.
Standard amount of usage often gives an insufficient tensile strength to a resulting pack film, which may be torn in the course of peeling off and remain on the surface of the skin. In order to prevent the film from undesirably remaining on the skin, it is effective to use a greater amount of the pack to form a thicker film. This, however, further lengthens the period of time required for completing the formation of a film after the application of the pack to the skin.
A variety of sheet packs have recently been proposed to solve the above problems. One group is water-containing sheet packs mainly composed of a water-soluble polymer and water; for example, a sheet pack obtained by spreading a water-containing crosslinked gel made of polyacrylates and a crosslinking agent on a non-woven fabric as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-180408, a water-containing sheet pack made of alginic acid, a water-soluble polymer and a crosslinking agent as essential components as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-145505, and a face-coating mask sheet having plural layers the top surface of which being protected by a release sheet (plastic liner) and containing different cosmetic components in the respective layers as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-48917.
Another group is dry sheet packs obtained by spreading and drying a thin film of a film-forming paste-like cosmetic substance, which includes a water-soluble polymer and water as main components; for example, a dry film-like cosmetic article mainly composed of a water-soluble polymer including medical or cosmetic components such as ascorbic acid as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-216109, a cosmetic pack having a dry thin layer of a paste such as sodium polyacrylate or a dispersed layer of fine paste powder on one surface of a film as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-165902, a sheet pack containing a polymer which is soluble in or swelled with both water and a non-aqueous solvent, and a polymer which is soluble in or swelled with only a non-aqueous solvent as essential components as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-294213, a sheet pack cosmetic article including polyvinyl alcohol, the other polymer and a polyhydric alcohol as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-194180, and a film pack having a water content of not higher than 25% by weight, containing sodium alginate and a polyhydric alcohol as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-65048. Before their application, water or clear lotion is added to the dry sheet packs.
Those proposed sheet packs can be handled more easily than the conventional packs, but still have some drawbacks, such as sticky surface during its use, unintentional tear of the film in the course of peeling off, and remains of the film on the surface of the skin, therefore are not satisfactory. Also, there arises a problem in the sheet packs that a relatively long period of time is necessitated for completing the formation of a film.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved peel-off-type pack which does not have a sticky surface, completes the formation of a film in a relatively short period of time, is not easily torn in the course of peeling off, and does not cause the remains of the film on the surface of the skin.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.